Mulching

 Thanks to the generosity of a local member, the youth do a mulching project to raise funds for girls camp, scout camp, high adventures and activities throughout the year. Of course we wanted to support the youth but I was also dying to build up the flowerbeds in front of the house. They were so worn down, the tarps were badly exposed, staying on top of the weeds was getting more and more cumbersome and they just looked sad. When the 5 yards of mulch was dumped in our driveway, I couldn't wait to get started and spent two whole days moving and spreading mulch.

Originally we had huge, overgrown bushes which were ugly, obscured the house and just attracted creatures and trapped dead leaves against the house. I decided to cut them down and see if they could survive as small, decorative bushes. If they did, great, that's what I wanted. If not, I had no qualms about ripping them out and replacing them with something else.

We had enough mulch to not only fill the bed, but to build it up quite a bit so the foundation is completely covered!

The spiders are gone and believe it or not, those bushes have already come back quite nicely. There are a few weeds here and there in the flowerbeds but I can take care of them in an afternoon, nothing like before. 

The mulch also helps to keep the suckers growing at the base of our trees down. I know there is still some dirt on the pathway in the picture below, but trust me it looks SO much better than it did! I could barely move for a few days from all the shoveling, heavy lifting and stooping I did. The little girls were thrilled to get extra playtime outside while I worked.

Our plan is to mulch the backyard next year and then alternate front and back yards after that. I'm so excited with what a difference the mulch made this year, I can't wait to tackle our jungle of a backyard next year!